Door knob covers



y 0, 1956 E. HASLETT 2,753,911

DOOR KNOB COVERS Filed May 18, 1953 FIG. 2

FIG. 3 I3 9 4 FIG. 5 5

\4 INVENTOR.

ELMER HASLETT ATT'Y.

United States Patent DOOR KNOB COVERS Elmer Haslett, Forest Hills, N. Y.

Application May 18, 1953, Serial No. 355,565

Claims. (Cl. 150-52) This invention relates to door knob covers and anobject is to provide an improved and sanitary cover which will eliminatethe annoyance of electrical shocks to per sons touching the knob, whichmay be easily found in the dark, which will reduce the danger of injuryto persons accidentally striking the knob, which will avoid injury tofurniture or walls against which the knob may strike, which may beeasily applied to most inside door knobs without the use of tools or theneed of special skills, and which will be attractive in appearance andornamental on the knob.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from r the followingdescription of an embodiment of the invention, and the novel featureswill be particularly pointed out hereinafter in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a plan of a knob cover constructed in accordance with thisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan of a strip of cellular rubber of which one of the partsof the cover is formed;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional elevation of the same, the sectionbeing taken approximately along the line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan of another part of the cover;

Fig. 6 is a transverse, sectional elevation of the same, the sectionbeing taken approximately along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional elevation of the cover, the sectionbeing taken approximately along the line 7-7 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating a step in the manufacture of the cover.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the cover is a generallycup shaped body or element 1 with a cavity 2 (Fig. 7) in one face of asize to receive and fit over a door knob. The body 1 has an endless,elastic ring 3, having a shape somewhat like the frustum of a hollowcone, and a circular sheet 4 is bonded across the larger end of the ring3 to close its passage and form an end wall for the cup shaped body. Anannulus 5, shown separately in Figs. 5 and 6, is secured or bonded tothe smaller end of the ring, with its inner margin extending partiallyacross the passage of the ring so as to form an inwardly extendingflange 6 at the open face of the cavity 2. The depth of the cavity 2from its open face is approximately equal to the thickness of a standardor ordinary door knob, and the diameter of the cavity at its larger endis approximately equal to the diameter of the ordinary door knob.

The ring 3 and sheet 4 are both made of split, cellular, elastic rubberwith no skin faces, and the annulus 5 is made of a split, cellularrubber known as neoprene, but with one skin face constituting theexposed face of the annulus. The term rubber is intended to cover bothnatural rubber and the so-called synthetic rubbers or rubbersubstitutes. Rubbers may also be defined as those materials which whenstretched to 200% or more elonga- 2,753,911 Patented July 10, 1956 tionand released will return practically immediately to their original shapeand position. The neoprene is an oil resistant, synthetic rubber of muchgreater tensile strength than the other rubbers, and it also is used incellular form, but with its exposed face 7 the skin face.

The bottom wall of the body, formed by the sheet 4, is provided with ashouldered passage 8, located at the center of the bottom, and a buttonor plug 9, preferably of cellular rubber is secured, as by cement, inthe larger, inner end of the passage 8 against the shoulder of thepassage. The face of the button 9 which abuts against the shoulder isprovided with a coating or layer 10 of luminous or other material of anysuitable kind which will glow somewhat in the dark, and be visiblethrough the outer or smaller end of passage 8.

In the preferred manner of making this cover, a strip 11 of split,cellular rubber with no skin faces, see Fig. 3, is first formed bysplitting it from a mass of cellular rubber, and its sides 12 and 13 arebeveled off somewhat, as shown in Fig. 4 particularly. The strip 11 isthen flexed into a ringshape and its ends cemented together with asuitable rubber cement, to form the endless ring 3. This ring 3 is thenplaced in a tapered passage which deforms the ring into a frustum of ahollow cone, and an annulus 5 is then cemented to the smaller end faceof the cone -or ring. The annulus 5 is wider, between its inner andouter peripheries, than the Width of the smaller end face of the cone,and its outer diameter is equal to the outer diameter of the smaller endof the cone. The annulus 5, when cemented to the smaller end of ring 3,will thus extend into the smaller end of the passage of the ring andform the internal flange 6.

While the ring 3 is still in its tapered form, the sheet 4 is cementedto the larger end face or base of the ring. The passage 8 may be formedin sheet 4 before or after it is attached to ring 3. The button 9 iscemented in the passage 8 at any time after the passage 8 is formed. Ihave found it decidedly advantageous to make the sheet 4 of larger facearea than needed, and cement it on the ring 3. The ring 3 and attachedsheet 4 are then removed from the tapered form and placed on a cuttingtable. A tubular cutting knife or tool 14 then descends over the ring asshown in Fig. 8, and cuts off the excess marginal portion of the sheet4. For this purpose, the inside diameter of tool 14 is that desired forthe circular finished sheet 4.

In use the open end of the element 1 is forced over a door knob to beprotected, and the cellular rubber of element 1 will stretch and conformto the shape of the knob. The flange 6 will grip the door knob andresist removal of the cover. At night the luminous coating or layer 10will glow to enable one to readily find the door knob, and anyonetouching the knob to turn it, will not receive a shock due to adischarge of static electricity from the person to the knob. The coveris an efiicient insulator, and it eliminates the very annoying shocksthat formerly resulted when one walked over a wool rug, during certainatmospheric conditions, and touched the knob. The cushion of cellularrubber also cushions any impact against it, if one should fall againstthe knob accidentally, and if the door is swung against furniture, thecover will engage the furniture and cushion the blow. One size of coverwill fit most standard inside door knobs. It is completely washable andhence can be kept sanitary under all conditions.

It will be understood that various changes in the details, which havebeen herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature ofthe invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within theprinciple and scope of the invention as expressed in the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. A door knob cover comprising a generally cupshaped element ofcellular, elastic rubber, an annulus of neoprene latex bonded to theopen end face of said element concentrically therewith, with its innermarginal edge projecting partially across said open end to provide aninternal, peripheral flange at the open end of said element, thedistance between said flange and the closed end of said element beingslightly less than approximately the thickness of the door knob to becovered, so as to fit snugly over said door knob.

2. A door knob cover comprising an endless, elastic ring having theshape somewhat like the frustum of a hollow cone, a sheet bonded acrossthe larger end face of the ring to form an end wall for the passagethereof, an elastic annulus bonded to the smaller end face of the ringand extending inwardly of the ring a substantial distance to form aninternal flange partially but not entirely across the smaller end of thepassage of the ring, said ring, and sheet being formed of split,cellular, elastic rubber, and said annulus being formed of highlyelastic, neoprene rubber.

3. A door knob cover comprising an endless, elastic ring having theshape somewhat like the frustum of a hollow cone, a sheet bonded acrossthe larger end face of the ring to form an end wall for the passagethereof, an elastic annulus bonded to the smaller end face of the ringand extending inwardly of the ring a substantial distance to form aninternal flange partially but not entirely across the smaller end of thepassage of the ring, said ring, and sheet being formed of split,cellular, elastic rubber, and said annulus being formed of highlyelastic, split, cellular neoprene rubber with a skin face of the splitneoprene rubber as the outer face of the annulus.

4. A door knob cover comprising an endless, elastic ring having theshape somewhat like the frustum of a hollow cone, a sheet bonded acrossthe larger end face of the ring to form an end wall for the passagethereof, an elastic annulus bonded to the smaller end face of the ringand extending inwardly of the ring a substantial distance to form aninternal flange partially but not entirely across the smaller end of thepassage of thering, said ring and sheet being formed of cellular,elastic rubber, the ring being of split, cellular rubber free of a skinsurface, and said annulus being formed of a cellular, elastic neoprenerubber, with its outer face having a skin surface.

5. A door knob cover comprising an endless elastic ring, an elasticcellular sheet bonded to one end face of said ring and extending atleast partially across the passage of the ring, and a highly elasticannulus bonded to the other end face of said ring and extending partly,but not entirely, across the passage of the ring, said ring being formedof cellular split, elastic latex, and said annulus being formed ofcellular neoprene rubber, with its exposed face a skin surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS273,685 Huntley Mar. 6, 1883 629,999 Jacobs Aug. 1, 1899 1,632,227Halsey June 14, 1927 1,668,716 Herdman et al. May 8, 1928 1,830,383 BosNov. 3, 1931 2,131,067 Paden Sept. 27, 1938

